05/21/2026
SAY CHEESE(CAKE) FOR SHAVUOT!
Shavuot begins tonight — the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. One beloved tradition? Eating dairy foods like cheesecake.
Why dairy? According to tradition, when the Torah was given on a Sabbath, the Israelites could no longer eat their non-kosher meat or prepare new meat that day — so they ate dairy instead. Over time, cheesecake became a Shavuot favorite, symbolizing the Torah as “milk and honey.”
Fun fact: The iconic Sara Lee cheesecake was created in the 1940s by Jewish Chicago baker Charles Lubin, who named it after his daughter. Sweet tradition meets sweet dessert.
